New guns to cost $3,000 after trade in of old weapons

The Saukville Village Board decided not to wait until 2011 to update its police arsenal, approving the purchase last week of six Smith & Wesson patrol rifles.

The M&P15 rifles will be equipped with EO Tech holographic sights, which Police Chief Bill Meloy said will improve the accuracy of the weapons.

“With the old sighting system, a bad guy down range might see the system’s red dot and know where the weapon is aimed,” Meloy said.

He said the EO Tech sights do not have such a telltale indicator.

Trustee David Maglio, an Ozaukee County sheriff’s deputy and firearms instructor, also praised the weapon upgrade.

“With this sighting system, you are taking away the margin of error you might encounter with different shooters. Wherever the dot shows in the scope, that is going to be the bullet’s point of impact,” Maglio said.

The rifles were touted as having “an ability for surgical accuracy.”

The rifles will replace Benelli M1 Super 90 12-gauge, semi-automatic shotguns, which Meloy said the department bought 15 years ago.

He said the dealer has agreed to pay the department $725 for each of the shotguns, reducing the total cost of the new weapons to $3,000.

“That trade-in price is as much or more than we paid for the Benellis when they were new. That doesn’t happen too often,” Meloy said.

Police said the shotguns have a high degree of recoil, are slow to reload and have 20-inch barrels, which make them difficult to handle in tactical situations.

The rifles have collapsible stocks that make them easier to store in squad cars, and have a magazine capacity of 30 rounds.

The rifles will be purchased from Streichers, a Milwaukee dealer that specializes in police supplies.

The $3,000 expenditure will be taken from the village’s 2010 contingency fund.